HONESDALE - A borough councilman will spend 45 days in prison and serve five years' probation for driving under the influence, a county judge ruled Thursday.
James Leo Brennan, 68, must also spend 45 days under house arrest after he is released from the Wayne County Correctional Facility and perform 100 hours of community service, Wayne County President Judge Raymond L. Hamill ordered at Mr. Brennan's sentencing hearing.
Borough police arrested Mr. Brennan for DUI, a misdemeanor, in April 2012, after an officer spotted him driving erratically at about 12:40 a.m.
He has been arrested before for alcohol-related offenses.
He received his first DUI in 2002. He also pleaded guilty to serving alcohol to a minor and was sentenced in 2008 to six months' probation.
And at an Arby's fast-food restaurant near Honesdale in 2009, Mr. Brennan was arrested on charges of public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
When Officer Carmine Saprona approached Mr. Brennan's vehicle in April 2012, the officer said Mr. Brennan's eyes were bloodshot and glossy and he slurred when he spoke.
Instead of handing the officer his license, Mr. Brennan handed him a credit card, according to arrest papers.
Mr. Brennan failed field sobriety tests and later refused a blood-alcohol test at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Despite an attempt to fight the charge in court, a Wayne County jury convicted him in January.
Before being sentenced, Mr. Brennan said during the 35 years he owned and operated the Limerick Tavern on Main Street he built up a tolerance for alcohol and did not realize he had become addicted.
Now that he has been sober since September, he knows he developed a "mental" addiction to alcohol, he told the judge.
"You can't drink, period," Judge Hamill told Mr. Brennan. "Stop imagining that you can manage it. This is an illness."
Council President F.J. Monaghan said he has received no word from Mr. Brennan whether he wants to resign. Mr. Monaghan said council cannot remove him under law, and he is not sure if there is a desire to do so, he said.
Borough lawmakers can be removed from office under very limited circumstances, and generally only by order of a court for infamous felony crimes such as forgery, perjury, and embezzlement of public money.
"Jim has been an excellent councilman over the years," Mr. Monaghan said. "He's contributed a lot to the borough of Honesdale and to me that speaks volumes. ... I look forward to Jim coming back on council."
During his probation, Mr. Brennan must refrain from drinking alcohol and must submit to random drug and alcohol testing.
Contact the writer: smcconnell@timesshamrock.com, @smcconnellTT on Twitter